Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Reflection of You’ On Netflix, A Korean Drama Where An Artist Unravels When The Past Comes Back To Haunt Her

Netflix has long been home to many strong Korean dramas, from Kingdom and Mr. Sunshine to Signal and Crash Landing On You. Oh, and a little show called Squid Game. Maybe you’ve heard of it? With the success of shows like Squid Game, we’re likely to see a lot more K-Dramas heading to the platform. The latest of these is Reflection of You, a new series set to drop new episodes weekly for its 16-episode first season. 

REFLECTION OF YOU: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A large fish swims along as a line is dropped into the water.

The Gist: Hee Joo (Hyun-Jung Go) thinks about hell a lot; she feels as though she’s living in it. Though she seemingly has it all – two beautiful children, a loving husband, a nice home, and a successful art career – something seems to be haunting her. When we first meet her, we see in hazy flashbacks (or flash forwards?!) as blood spatters across a family portrait and she drags a heavy item and drops it into the water. There’s some secret she’s holding onto, something that is stopping her from being able to enjoy the life she’s built. Things start to get strange when she’s called to the hospital after her young daughter Li-Sa (Su-an Kim) is assaulted by a teacher and ruptured her eardrum as a result.

Hee Joo soon discovers that the teacher is none other than Hae Won (Shin Hyon Bin), a friend from the past who seems to be only a ghost of her former bubbly self. Hee Joo confronts Hae Won about the incident, which only leads to more violence, but later, Hae Won pays her a visit at home to apologize properly. Despite seemingly good intentions, Hee Joo sees right through this act and is shaken by the entire encounter. Hae Won is delighted to have found Hee Joo, and now that she has, we can only guess what’s in store for the artist.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Reflection of You might remind you of other K-dramas like Sky Castle a bit, as well as a little of mysteries like The Fall, The Undoing, and even Big Little Lies at times.

Our Take: When a show kicks things off with dark, dramatic flashbacks and some unsettling, remorseful narration, you know we’re in for something good. Reflection of You wastes no time hooking us (quite literally, actually, as a fishing line is thrown into the water) and making us wonder who the real villain in this story is, and what secrets may lie in the past – or in the future. There are a few little threads that are set up here; the unconscious John Doe visited by Hee Joo’s husband who later disappears, the tension between Hee Joo and her wealthy, frigid mother-in-law, Hae Won’s use of an alias. It’s all the stuff you want from a mystery series, stuff that keeps you guessing and unsure of who we might really be able to trust.

Despite some chilling scenes and intriguing mysteries, Reflection of You is not without some soapy moments, leaning into the occasional silly transition, use of slow motion, or over-the-top performance. It all fits into the world, however, and even the more jarring choices never make the first installment, “Someone Like You”, feel disjointed. As one of just a handful of series with episodes dropping weekly on the platform, Reflection of You wisely leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger, ensuring viewers are bound to tune in next week to see how things turn out.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Hee Joo stands in the middle of her street in shock as she realizes that Hae Won did not come by to apologize and there may be sinister things ahead.

Sleeper Star: Shin Hyon Bin is excellent as Hae Won, the mysterious figure at the center of “Someone Like You” who hurts Li-Sa and has come back to haunt Hee Joo. She plays the quietly disturbed woman with ease, eliciting terror in the viewer as her explosive temper is unleashed and making herself more of an enigma when she meekly attempts to “apologize” for her actions. Though we’ve only seen one episode and a few glimpses of Hae Won, it’s easy to see that she’s going to be a big part of what makes Reflection of You work.

Most Pilot-y Line: It’s not necessarily pilot-y, but the opening narration of the episode is just a little on the nose: “I think about hell. Though alive, I think of the world as hell.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Intriguing from its first eerie moments, Reflection of You establishes an unsettling atmosphere and sets up quite a few mysteries bound to keep viewers hooked from week to week.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream Reflection of You on Netflix